Bridal Cave & Thunder Mountain Park

We have a lot of folks that come on our cave tour at the Lake of the Ozarks that are frequent visitors of Show Caves around the United States . There are Show Caves all over the United States and if you are on vacation chances are you will pass a Show Cave on your way to your destination or there may even be one where you are going! Spelunking, which is a fancy word for cave exploring, is a popular activity for the entire family to enjoy. There are all kinds of cave tours around the US from handicap accessible, easy concrete pathways, Jeep rides through caverns, by boat, adventure tours, and more! Just be sure to call first because every cave is different and there may be restrictions depending on your individual health. We could go on forever as to why you should visit Show Caves around the US but for today we will stick with just a few. No Two Caves are Alike!   One misconception about visiting caves is that once you see one cave there is no need to see another one b...

Our state's official nickname is "The Show Me State," but Missouri is also referred to often as "The Cave State" because it contains more caves than any other state.   Bridal Cave is only one of many caves found throughout Missouri. Our Lake of the Ozarks attraction is 1 of 18 Show Caves that are open to the public for tours.  In addition to those, there are also 6,950 Wild Caves in Missouri. Map courtesy of the Missouri Caves Association website A Show Cave is a cave that is open to the public for tours.  Often they possess features like constructed trails and lighting to make tours easily accessible. Wild Caves are not so easy for the general public to make their way through, and sometimes impossible.  Exploring these caves can be extremely dangerous and should only be done by a trained professional. Show Caves are actually considered to be one of Missouri's first tourist attractions.  Public lantern tours began in the early 1800's. ...